GP Ouest France, weekend in Plouay
This Sunday is host to the GP Ouest France, one of the most important one-day cycling races, as it is one of the final races on the ProTour calendar, and therefore one of the last chances before the Vuelta a Espana to have an effect on the UCI world rankings. The race, held on the Plouay circuit, should prove to be a playground for the BMC-Racing team, who are bringing Alessandro Ballan, Mauro Santambrogio, and Karsten Kroon to the race.
“It's a race much like the Tour de l'Ain where we will have plenty of cards to play,” said director John Lelangue.
Classics-specialist Ballan is a definite favourite, with a second place finish in 2008 at the same event, behind Pierrick Fedrigo, and a victory in the 2009 Tour of Poland and a fifth-place finish in the same event this year. The 25-year-old Santambrogio was a runner-up in Wednesday’s Italian one-day race, the Coppa Agostini and eighth in Tuesday’s Tre Valli Varesini.
"Don't forget that Karsten won a stage of the Tour de France in Plouay, in 2002, and he's also in good shape now,” said Lelangue.
BMC-Racing was one of only two teams in the Tour de France which were not invited to the Vuelta a Espana, the other being Team RadioShack. They will follow the GP Ouest France with the five-stage Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne, which begins on Tuesday.
The team is targeting shorter ProTour races as well as aiming to put American George Hincapie in the position to defend his title of national champion. The latter goal has been jeopardized by a serious crash in the second stage of the Tour of Utah on Thursday, but Hincapie is working be back in shape by the nationals in September.
The GP Ouest France is a long-standing part of the ProTour calendar. Plouay, just north of Lorient in the country of Brittany, has hosted a major one-day race for nearly eighty years, traditionally signaling the end of the criterium season and the beginning of prep for the UCI Road World Championships. The town hosted the Worlds in 2000 and this weekend will also be hosting the last round of the women’s World Cup.
The 2010 race is held on a 19.1km circuit to the north of the town, raced for 13 laps and a total of 248km of racing with three climbs per lap. A tight fast finally can be expected, with strong attacks on the final climbs and an opportunity for a sprint on the final downhill finish.
Simon Gerrans won last year’s race at the lead of the Cervelo Test Team, and will defend his title this year as the leader of Team Sky. The British team will also host Bradley Wiggins’ return to competition after the Tour de France, as part of his build-up for the Tour of Britain.
"Since I finished fourth last year at the Tour it's been almost non-stop, because of the saga that went on all through the winter," Wiggins told the Guardian. “I just feel I need a break. The Tour of Britain will be my only other race this year, then I'll have a proper break and start building towards next year. I've already thought about next year. We know what we have to do, and what we're going to do.”
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